1. Field of the Invention
The apparatus and system of the present invention relate to coin and/or token operated and handling machines that have the capability of receiving, accepting and/or rejecting, storing and dispensing coins and/or tokens.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Most prior art coin and/or token operated and handling machines have a coin and/or token entry slot and utilize a coin and/or token acceptor device designed to either accept or reject each coin or token. Such machines also normally have a coin and/or token diverter (or deflector) mechanism to direct accepted coins and/or tokens to either a hopper payout assembly or a coin and/or token storage chamber, commonly referred to as a drop box or a drop bucket. The diverter mechanism normally directs accepted coins or tokens to the hopper assembly until it is full after which the diverter mechanism directs coins and/or tokens to the drop bucket. In such machines coins or tokens that are initially rejected by the acceptor device drop through a reject chute or coin tray chute directly into a coin or token delivery (or payout) tray. Accepted coins and/or tokens, diverted to the hopper payout assembly, at times of payout, drop from the hopper assembly into the delivery tray.
Coin and/or token operated machines of the type described above are controlled by a controller mechanism which includes electronic circuitry which directs the hopper payout assembly to release or payout coins or tokens in accordance with machine-determined and/or set parameters. Such machines also include coin and/or token sensing devices associated with the hopper payout assembly, and interconnected through the controller mechanism to the diverter mechanism whereby, when the payout hopper is less than full, accepted coins and/or tokens are diverted to such hopper and when such hopper is full accepted coins and/or tokens are directed to the drop bucket.
The prior art coin and/or token machines are perfectly satisfactory in structure and operation so long as the machine-determined and/or set parameters do not suddenly require an immediate high volume payout or discharge of coins or tokens, or a rapid sequence of coin or token payouts or discharges, which exhausts the supply of coins and/or tokens within the payout hopper. On such occasions the machine's controller mechanism, interconnected with the hopper's coin and/or token sensing devices, signals a machine attendant that the machine's hopper is empty. The machine then goes into a hopper time out mode thus deactivating the machine until the empty hopper situation is corrected. A machine attendant is summoned to the machine and, after shutting the machine down, performs a "manual hopper fill." A hopper fill is usually accomplished by obtaining a bag of coins and/or tokens from a source external to, and apart from, the machine. Such "manual hopper fill" procedure creates substantial delay in the operation of the machine. At times this delay causes the person operating the machine to become upset and distressed with the machine's proprietor.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a supplemental coin and/or token storage, transport and dispensing mechanism for coin and/or token operated and handling machines which reacts instantly and automatically to replenish the payout hopper thereof with coins and/or tokens upon sensor indication to the controller mechanism of such machines that the hopper's supply of coins and/or tokens is near or at the point of exhaustion.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a supplemental coin and/or token storage, transport and dispensing mechanism for coin and token operated and handling machines which receives accepted coins and/or tokens from the diverter mechanism of such machines and, upon direction by the invention's controller mechanism thereof, initially fills and thereafter rapidly replenishes the payout hopper with accepted coins and/or tokens.
It is still a further object of the invention to provide a coin and/or token storage, transport and dispensing elevator mechanism for incorporation in coin and/or token operated and handling machines whereby the payout hopper of such machines may be rapidly replenished with coins and/or tokens when a full payout or partial payout of the coins and/or tokens in the hopper, or successive hopper payouts, substantially depleats or exhausts the supply of coins and/or tokens therein before a suitable volume of acceptable coins and/or tokens may be fed to the hopper via the diverter mechanism of such machines.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a system for incorporation in coin and/or token operated and handling machines whereby the payout hoppers thereof may be automatically replenished with coins and /or tokens when the hopper becomes rapidly emptied as the result of a full or partial payout of coins and tokens therefrom.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following summary and detailed description of the invention, taken with the accompanying drawing figures. For the purpose of describing the invention in the summary, detailed description and appended claims, the term "coins" will be used to describe the objects or monitory units of machine use and manipulation and the reference to "coins" shall mean coins and/or tokens and the equivalents of coins and tokens.